Luke 8:14

Verse 14.

(q) "are choked" 1Timm 6:9,10, 2Ti 4:10, 1Jn 2:15-17 (r) "bring no fruit" Jn 15:16

Luke 21:34

Verse 34. Lest at any time your hearts be overcharged, &c. The meaning of this verse is, "Be continually expecting these things. Do not forget

them, and do not be secure and satisfied with this

life and the good things which it furnishes. Do not

suffer yourselves to be drawn into the fashions of

the world; to be conformed to its customs; to partake

of its feasts and revelry; and so these calamities

shall come upon you when you least expect them."

And from this we may learn--what alas! we may from the lives of many professing Christians --that there is need of cautioning the disciples of Jesus now that they do not indulge in the festivities of this life, and forget that they are to die and come to judgment. How many, alas! who bear the Christian name, have forgotten this caution of the Saviour, and live as if their lives were secure; as if they feared not death; as if there were no heaven and no judgment! Christians should feel that they are soon to die, and that their portion is not in this life; and, feeling this, they should be looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.

Overcharged. Literally, be made heavy, as is the case with those who have eaten and drunken too much.

Surfeiting. Excessive eating and drinking, so as to oppress the body; indulgence in the pleasures of the table. This word does not include intoxication, but merely indulgence in food and drink, though the food and drink should be in themselves lawful.

Drunkenness. Intoxication, intemperance in drinking. The ancients were not acquainted with the poison that we chiefly use on which to become drunk. They had no distilled spirits. They became intoxicated on wine, and strong drink made of a mixture of dates, honey, &c. All nations have contrived some way to become intoxicated--to bring in folly, and disease, and poverty, and death, by drunkenness; and in nothing is the depravity of men more manifest than in thus endeavouring to hasten the ravages of crime and death.

Philippians 4:6

Verse 6. Be careful for nothing. That is, be not anxious or solicitous about the things of the present life. The word here used--μεριμνατε --does not mean that we are to exercise no care about worldly matters--no care to preserve our property, or to provide for our families, (1Timm 5:8;) but that there is to be such confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety, and such a sense of dependence on him as to keep it calm. See the subject explained Mt 6:25.

But in every thing. Everything in reference to the supply of your wants, and the wants of your families; everything in respect to afflictions, embarrassments, and trials: and everything relating to your spiritual condition. There ia nothing which pertains to body, mind, estate, friends, conflicts, losses, trials, hopes, fears, in reference to which we may not go and spread it all out before the Lord.

By prayer and supplication. The word rendered supplication is a stronger term than the former. It is the mode of prayer peculiarly which arises from the sense of need, or want--from δεομαι, to want, to need.

With thanksgiving. Thanksgiving connected with prayer. We can always find something to be thankful for, no matter what may be the burden of our wants, or the special subject of our petitions. When we pray for the supply of our wants, we may be thankful for that kind Providence which has hitherto befriended us; when we pray for restoration from sickness, we may be thankful for the health we have hitherto enjoyed, and for God's merciful interposition in the former days of trial, and for his goodness in now sparing our lives; when we pray that our children and friends may be preserved from danger and death, we may remember how often God has interposed to save them; when, oppressed with a sense of sin, we pray for pardon, we have abundant cause of thanksgiving that there is a glorious way by which we may be saved. The greatest sufferer that lives in this world of redeeming love, and who has the offer of heaven before him, has cause of gratitude.

Let your request be made known unto God. Not as if you were to give him information, but to express to him your wants. God needs not to be informed of our necessities, but he requires that we come and express them to him. Comp. Eze 36:37: "Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them."

(*) "careful" "anxious" (d) "careful for nothing" Mt 6:25
Copyright information for Barnes